As you know, Roman Polak suffered a serious leg injury in the playoffs last year as the Maple Leafs faced the Capitals.

UPDATE: Roman Polak out for season after Leafs - Capitals game 2 injury

There was little update on his condition over the summer beyond the usual, ‘he’s progressing’ type comments.  But recently it has been mentioned that he has been skating.

Today, with the release of their training camp roster, it was revealed that Polak is back, on a PTO. Commence rending of garments and screaming in horror, or applauding the Leafs for doing the man a favour, depending on your nature.

Polak, who never played less than his best, contributed to the Leafs success last year in a meaningful way, and had some acceptable third-pairing level stats.  Nothing more than acceptable, to be sure, and Mike Babcock carefully used him to make that happen while reaping the benefits of his good example to younger players. Babcock had no trouble replacing him in the playoffs, and on a team now deep in depth defenders, it’s hard to see where he would fit on the team.

How do you solve a problem like the Leafs defence roster?

But who else is going to give the man a chance to show that leg is healed, and that he can play the game at a level some teams might want?

So, he’ll be there, fulfilling the veteran rule requirements in pre-season games, upsetting the masses, showing the young guys how hard you have to work in the NHL and being funny in the locker room.  And that’s likely it.

I like him as a person. I think the Leafs have outgrown him, but giving him this PTO is a classy move.  I hope he’s in the best shape of his life!

How do you feel about Roman Polak on a PTO?

I don’t know what ‘rend my garments’ means, but I’m doing it.79
It’s fun just to watch Twitter burn.108
Class move, I like it.855
It’s dumb and Babcock has too much power.40